to be seen and acknowledged

Someone clued me in to Henri Nouwen’s daily email, and of course, I love it! (I’ll try to remember to add it to my links over there.>)

The current theme in the very short devotionals, is “hiddenness”. Most of Jesus’ life, after all, is hidden from us, since he did not begin his public life until he was in his 30’s. “In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness. We want to be seen and acknowledged.” No kidding! Think Facebook, blogging, etc. :$ (And Henri Nouwen died before that stuff really took on!) I’m still embarrassed when I remember how I tried to attract attention (to my blog) when I first discovered it all. And the feeling, when you’re sad or upset (or happy!), of just wanting somebody to notice. Trying to say something that would practically force someone to comment.

But– “In hiddenness we do not receive human acclamation, admiration, support, or encouragement.” And so we have to rely on God.

So to give some time to hiddenness, I shouldn’t feel it’s necessary to write something here every day, if there’s nothing particular to say. And I should be more patient when it seems no one is updating their facebook status lately. ;)

Notice how “qualified” that last paragraph is… I’m obviously not calling for a total shutdown of our personal media (or, what would be a better term?) Facebook has been so wonderful for staying connected with family & loved ones, that’s for sure!

“When Israel cried out to the Lord, he answered them and raised up a man to deliver them.” (Judges 3:9)?